Diagram as Code

Reference

CLI Reference

Complete installation guide, all flags, and usage examples for the awsdac command line interface on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

The CLI is the best fit when diagrams should live with infrastructure code, run in CI/CD, or be generated in automation pipelines. It accepts DAC YAML, Go templates, and CloudFormation templates as input, and outputs PNG, draw.io XML, or PDF.

Recommended: install via npm

npm works on macOS, Linux, and Windows (Node.js 14+ required). It downloads the correct pre-built binary automatically for your OS and CPU architecture.

Install — all platforms via npm

bash

npm install -g awsdac
awsdac --version

Install — macOS

bash

# via npm (recommended)
npm install -g awsdac

# via Homebrew
brew install awsdac

Install — Linux

bash

# via npm (recommended)
npm install -g awsdac

# via Go (requires Go 1.21+)
go install github.com/fernandofatech/diagram-as-code/cmd/awsdac@latest

# via binary — download and install manually
curl -LO https://github.com/fernandofatech/diagram-as-code/releases/latest/download/awsdac-$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/fernandofatech/diagram-as-code/releases/latest | grep tag_name | cut -d'"' -f4)_linux-amd64.zip
unzip awsdac-*_linux-amd64.zip
sudo mv awsdac-*_linux-amd64/awsdac /usr/local/bin/
awsdac --version

Install — Windows

powershell

# via npm (recommended)
npm install -g awsdac

# via Go (requires Go 1.21+)
go install github.com/fernandofatech/diagram-as-code/cmd/awsdac@latest

# via binary — download from GitHub Releases, extract and add to PATH:
# https://github.com/fernandofatech/diagram-as-code/releases/latest
# Download awsdac-vX.Y.Z_windows-amd64.zip
# Extract awsdac.exe and add the folder to your PATH

Install — from source

bash

git clone https://github.com/fernandofatech/diagram-as-code.git
cd diagram-as-code
make build   # produces ./awsdac (or awsdac.exe on Windows)

# Prerequisites: Go 1.21+

Full flags reference

text

Usage:
  awsdac <input filename> [flags]

Flags:
      --allow-untrusted-definitions  Allow loading definition files from untrusted URLs
  -c, --cfn-template                 [beta] Create diagram from CloudFormation template
  -d, --dac-file                     [beta] Generate DAC YAML from CloudFormation template
      --drawio                       Generate draw.io (.drawio) file instead of PNG
      --pdf                          Generate PDF file instead of PNG
  -f, --force                        Overwrite output file without confirmation
  -h, --help                         help for awsdac
      --height int                   Resize output image height (0 = no resizing)
  -o, --output string                Output file name (default "output.png")
      --override-def-file string     Override DefinitionFiles to another URL or local file
  -t, --template                     Process input file as a Go text/template
  -v, --verbose                      Enable verbose logging
      --version                      Print version and exit
      --width int                    Resize output image width (0 = no resizing)

Flags quick reference

Flag	Default	Purpose
-o, --output	output.png	Output file name
--drawio	false	Generate draw.io XML instead of PNG
--pdf	false	Generate PDF instead of PNG
-f, --force	false	Overwrite output without confirmation
--width / --height	0 (off)	Resize PNG/PDF output to exact pixels
-t, --template	false	Render input as Go text/template
-c, --cfn-template	false	Create diagram from CloudFormation template
-d, --dac-file	false	Generate DAC YAML from CloudFormation (use with -c)
--override-def-file	—	Use a local or custom URL definition file
--allow-untrusted-definitions	false	Allow non-official definition file URLs
-v, --verbose	false	Enable verbose logging
--version	—	Print installed version

Usage examples

bash

# Generate PNG (default)
awsdac examples/alb-ec2.yaml

# Custom output filename
awsdac my-architecture.yaml -o my-diagram.png

# Force overwrite without confirmation
awsdac my-architecture.yaml -o output.png -f

# Generate draw.io file
awsdac examples/alb-ec2.yaml --drawio -o output.drawio
# shortcut: extension infers format automatically
awsdac examples/alb-ec2.yaml -o output.drawio

# Generate PDF
awsdac examples/alb-ec2.yaml --pdf -o output.pdf

# Resize output image
awsdac examples/alb-ec2.yaml --width 1920 --height 1080 -o output.png

# Use a Go template file
awsdac examples/tgw-nwfw-tmpl.yaml -t -o output.png

# Convert CloudFormation template to diagram
awsdac my-cfn-template.yaml -c -o output.png

# Convert CloudFormation template to DAC YAML (for further editing)
awsdac my-cfn-template.yaml -c -d -o my-diagram.yaml

# Verbose logging
awsdac examples/alb-ec2.yaml -v

# Use a local definition file instead of the remote one
awsdac my-diagram.yaml --override-def-file ./my-definitions.yaml

# Check version
awsdac --version

When to use the CLI

Local engineering documentation stored next to IaC in version control.
CI/CD generation of diagrams for pull requests or release artifacts.
Batch rendering multiple YAML files as part of docs automation.
CloudFormation template visualization during infrastructure review.
Exporting draw.io files for manual editing in diagram tools.

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